Posted by Jay Bertolet on January 16, 2003 at 18:41:52:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: The E-Bay HOLTON posted by Rick Denney on January 16, 2003 at 15:42:08:
Another reason to bid a small amount early would be to ensure that the auction would go to completion. That is, some sellers will close an auction early if they see that it isn't drawing any bids. If someone has bid, then they have to cancel the current bids before closing the auction, a much bigger project that also draws more attention, especially that of the auction site staff. Of course, the seller is not obligated to allow an auction to go to completion and can cancel the bids at any time prior to the auction's completion. However, the auction site staff does watch these sorts of things and will give the seller grief if they have a record of cancelling bids and ending auctions early. I suppose if bidders can "snipe" auctions, sellers can oppose that by ending auctions prior to scheduled ending times. Obviously, if you know a seller has a record of closing auctions early and you really want the item, you might be more likely to enter your highest bid early rather than later. This technique does work, and the times I've seen it employed the seller actually includes a statement in the item description to the effect of "I will close the auction early so bid now". This technique is kind of a way to get a reserve auction without having to actually set a reserve. The seller simply closes the auction and either accepts the top bid or cancels them all before closure. This is important because some folks won't bid in auctions that have a reserve.
My opinion for what it's worth...